Nevada cattle numbers buck national cycle of decline

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Three consecutive wet winters have helped replenish desert forage and hay production across the state while natural forces have taken a heavy toll on other cattle-producing regions across the country.

Beef prices still are low, but the number of cattle in Nevada is slowly rising, said Martin Owens, statistician with the Nevada Agricultural Statistics Service.

"We anticipate gradual improvement throughout the next year," Owens said.

As of Jan. 1, the number of cattle and calves on Nevada farms and ranches totaled 520,000 head, up 20,000 from the same time a year ago, he said.

Nationwide, the number decreased 2 percent from the previous year to 101.2 million head.

The slow rebuilding of Nevada's cattle herds could help ranchers here recover more quickly once a glutted beef market evens out, Owens said.

"The cattle cycle moves on economic conditions as well as environmental conditions," Owens said. "We're seeing very low cattle prices now, which make it unprofitable for many producers."

When caring for cattle becomes unprofitable, many ranchers are forced to sell off their herds, which leads to a glut on the market and further depressed beef prices.

"The prices have been so bad that those people who absolutely didn't have to sell have been hanging on to them ... making up for losses by putting additional weight on their cattle and building their herds," Owens said.

This winter's blizzards in the Dakotas and last year's searing drought in the southern Plains also may help Nevada.

Ranchers in North and South Dakota took a beating this winter from a series of blizzards that devastated cattle herds. Combined cattle deaths in both states has been estimated at nearly 50,000.

Those deaths alone will not guarantee an upturn of Nevada's cattle industry, but combined with other market forces could help stabilize the outlook, Owens said.

"That's one of the brutal truths about agriculture," Owens said. "What hurts the farmer on the other side of the country helps you. The excessive death loss in the Dakotas means there will be a smaller calf crop up there next year, fewer feeder cattle, which will help the price of Nevada's."

In Nevada, the primary cattle crop is calves, which are sold to other ranchers to fatten up and sell for slaughter.

Before Nevada's eight-year drought began in 1986, there were 610,000 head of cattle in the state. As conditions deteriorated, so, too, did the number of livestock.

Cattle numbers dropped to 490,000 in 1994 but began a slow recovery that year after the first of three consecutive wet winters replenished soil moisture and water supplies.

Cattle inventory held steady at 500,000 in 1995 and 1996.